Child Psychology Commons^™

A Phenomenological Study Of School Psychologists: The Influence Of Implicit Bias On The Disproportionate Identification Rates Of African American Students Evaluated For Emotional Disturbance, Sonya Coe-Milo

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

As advocates, school psychologists remain ethically responsible and uniquely positioned to identify social injustices and promote nondiscriminatory practices in prekindergarten through grade 12 public education institutions. Implicit bias and its influence on African American students is one such practice. In public education, implicit bias contributes to discipline disproportionality, differentiated teacher support, pedagogical practices, and adult perceptions and expectations of appropriate and inappropriate behaviors. These factors directly correlate to the disproportionate identification rates of African American students for special education and related services. Therefore, this phenomenological qualitative study examined the personal, lived experiences and perceptions of school psychologists regarding implicit bias …

Not All Numbers Were Created Equal: Evidence The Number One Is Unique, Jenna L. Croteau

Masters Theses

Universally across modern cultures children acquire the meaning of the words one, two, and three in order. While much research has focused on how children acquire this knowledge and what this knowledge represents, the question of why children learn numbers in order has been comparatively neglected. To address this question, a non-verbal anticipatory looking task was implemented. In this task, 35 14- to 23-month-old infants were assessed on their ability to form implicit category structures for the numbers one, two, and three. We hypothesized that children would be able to form the implicit category structure for the number one …

Rates Of Recent Adverse Childhood Experiences Among Indigenous Children, Emily A. Waterman, Katie Edwards, Natira Mullet, Ramona Herrington, Skyler Hopfauf, Preciouse Trujillo, Naomi Even-Aberle, Lorey Wheeler

Department of Educational Psychology: Faculty Publications

The current paper describes rates of recent (past six months) adverse childhood experiences (ACEs) and examines the association of ACEs with cultural connection and depressive symptoms among Indigenous children aged 10 to 14 (N = 177; mean age = 11.8; 48.3% boys; 44.3% girls; 7.4% another gender identity). Children completed baseline surveys as part of a larger evaluation of a culturally grounded, strengths-focused, family-based program to prevent ACEs. Surveys included an inclusive measure of ACEs developed for the current study, an adapted measure of connection to culture, and the Children’s Depression Screener. Results for ACEs indicated that 18.6% of …

A Transdiagnostic Examination Of Cognitive Heterogeneity In Children And Adolescents With Neurodevelopmental Disorders, Sarah Al-Saoud, Emily S. Nichols, Emma G. Duerden, Loretta Norton

Western Libraries Undergraduate Research Awards (WLURAs)

Children and adolescents with neurodevelopmental disorders (NDDs) demonstrate extensive cognitive heterogeneity that is not adequately captured by traditional diagnostic systems. Using a transdiagnostic approach, a retrospective cohort study of cognitive functioning was conducted with a large heterogenous sample (n = 1529) of children and adolescents 7 to 18 years of age with NDDs. Measures of short-term memory, verbal ability, and reasoning were administered to participants with attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), autism spectrum disorder (ASD), comorbid ADHD/ASD, and typically developing (TD) participants using a 12-item web-based neurocognitive testing battery. Unsupervised machine learning techniques were implemented to create a self-organizing map (SOM), …

White Men In White Coats: Children’S Attributions Of Scientific Knowledge Based On Race And Gender, Lillian C. Holm, Mariel R. Cox, Khushboo S. Patel, Judith H. Danovitch

The Cardinal Edge

Children use others’ characteristics (e.g., intelligence and niceness) to evaluate how much a person knows (Landrum et al., 2016). However, little is known about how gender and race influence children's perception of adults' scientific knowledge. The current study examined how children ages 5-8 (N = 25; 11 girls, 14 boys) perceive adults’ scientific knowledge. In the first task, children saw 8 different adults of varying race and gender (White man, White woman, Black man, Black woman) and rated their knowledge using a five-point scale. Children then chose one person out of two adults who they thought knew more about a …

Graduate Student Award Winners In Educational Psychology: What Made Them Successful?, Kenneth A. Kiewra, Saima Hasnin, Jared Soundy, Priya Karimuddanahalli Premkumar, Chris Labenz

Department of Educational Psychology: Faculty Publications

Much is known about the factors that make some educational psychologists highly productive. Beginning nearly 25 years ago, Kiewra and colleagues began a series of six qualitative investigations to uncover the keys to scholarly success in educational psychology. The initial study (Kiewra & Creswell, 2000) investigated Richard Anderson, Richard Mayer, and Michael Pressley, who were ranked as the top scholars in a survey of educational psychologists. The second study (Patterson- Hazley & Kiewra, 2013), more than a decade later, investigated productive scholars Patricia Alexander, Richard Mayer, Dale Schunk, and Barry Zimmerman who were ranked as the top scholars in a …

For The Love Of Teaching: Pre-Service Teachers’ Experience Of Moral Education, Anne Marie Foley Ruiz

Doctoral Dissertations

Moral aspects of teaching arise each and every day, yet we lack information about how prepared teachers feel about this critical aspect of teaching. This multi-case study explores perceptions of five pre-service teachers in an elementary teacher education program in Western Massachusetts. A series of interviews explore their histories prior to the program and their experiences in the program as related to the pre-service teachers’ orientations to the moral work of teaching. Research questions address the awareness and self-efficacy of student teachers in implementing the moral aspects of teaching. Using Thematic Analysis (Braun & Clark, 2006), this study explores beliefs …

Gender-Neutral Bathrooms On Campus: A Multicampus Study Of Cisgender And Transgender And Gender Diverse College Students, Merle Huff, Katie Edwards, Victoria Mauer, Heather Littleton, Stephanie Lim, Kayla E. Sall

Department of Educational Psychology: Faculty Publications

Objective: This study examined cisgender and transgender and gender diverse (TGD) college students’ perceptions of gender-neutral bathroom availability across eight U.S. campuses, TGD students’ fear of harassment related to (lack of) availability of gender-neutral bathrooms, and the relation between fear of harassment and TGD students’ psychological distress.

Methods: Participants were 4,328 college students (4,195 cisgender, 30 binary transgender, 103 gender diverse) from eight U.S. institutions of higher education.

Results: The majority (84.2%) of TGD students and 34.6% of cisgender students perceived there were too few gender-neutral bathrooms on their campus. Further, TGD students’ fear of harassment related to a lack …

Sports, Family, And Leadership In Youth: Impacts Of Family Environments And Sport Participation On Youth Leadership Development, Michael Stout

Theses and Graduate Projects

This study investigated the effects of family relationships/environment and sport participation on youth leadership development using the 2016 Minnesota Student Survey (MSS) questionnaire. Responses from 9^th and 11^th graders were used, resulting in 81,885 total participants between the ages of 13 and 19 for this archival, cross-sectional study. This study had two aims: One, to investigate the relationship between family relationships/environment and sport participation, and their impact on youth leadership skills and development; and two, to investigate whether participation in youth sports provides enough scaffolding to foster the development of youth leadership skills despite poor family relationships/environments. Scales …

The Benefits Of Art Therapy On Stress And Anxiety Of Oncology Patients During Treatment, Helen Shiepe

Expressive Therapies Capstone Theses

Within the last ten years research on art therapy and its positive impact on oncology patients’ stress and anxiety during treatment has been minimal. Oncology patients whether they are children or adults when diagnosed experience similar reactions due to their diagnosis, treatment, and in some cases end of life care. The current question is whether or not art therapy does have a positive impact on decreasing the stress and anxiety with oncology patients while undergoing treatment. Deane, Fitch & Carmen (2000), discussed art therapy as a healing art that is “intended to integrate physical, emotional, and spiritual care by facilitating …

John Glover: A Long Overdue Account Of His Productive Scholarship Methods, Kenneth A. Kiewra, Douglas Kauffman

Department of Educational Psychology: Faculty Publications

How are some scholars so productive? Kiewra and colleagues have interviewed about two dozen productive scholars over six studies to find out (Flanigan et al., 2018; Kiewra & Creswell, 2000; Kiewra et al., 2021; Kiewra et al., 2023; Patterson-Hazley & Kiewra, 2013; Prinz et al., 2020). Meanwhile, Bembenutty has also interviewed about 30 contemporary scholars to uncover their productivity pathways (Bembenutty, 2015, 2022). Absent from these interviews, though, is John Glover, the founding editor of Educational Psychology Review and one of the leading scholars of his time. Unfortunately, Glover’s time was brief. He died from a fallen tree in 1989 …

Playful Learning: The Disposition Of Architecture As Pedagogy, Alyssa Franklin

Bachelor of Architecture Theses - 5th Year

Education is a vital foundation of a society. The standard of today’s school environment is built upon the pedigree of the factory schools from the nineteenth century. However, elementary age children require a flexible, engaging, and creative learning environment that the standard school environment does not provide. Learning is a dynamic and innovative action. Architecture should mirror the learning that it supports through providing spaces that allow for flexibility, engagement, accessibility, and attraction. Children are transformed by the spaces they are in, spaces that will leave lasting impacts on the cognitive development of the children, spaces that can be playful …

Adverse Effects Of Early Exposure To Pornography And The Utilization Of Art Therapy, Meghan Potts

Art Therapy Counseling Final Research Projects

Pornography is not a new phenomenon in our culture or world. With the expansion of the affordability, accessibility, and anonymity of pornography, demand and consumption rates have also escalated, along with the adverse impact associated with this growth (Coopersmith, 2006 as cited by Dines, 2017). This two-year grant proposal seeks to focus its efforts on serving children, the population being exposed to this widespread phenomenon (Wright, Paul, et al., 2021). The full-time art therapist will carry out trauma-informed prevention and intervention methods to advocate for the mental and physical health of children in individual, relational, and community contexts. This will …

Teaching As Accommodation: The Benefits Of Teaching All Children Through A Trauma-Informed Lens, Megan Retzloff

Art of Teaching Thesis - Written

Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACEs) are an epidemic in our society. In 2021 alone, an estimated 600,000 children in the United States experienced abuse or neglect, with 90.6% of all reported cases documenting one or both parents as the perpetrator (HHS, 2023). As educators, we play an important role in preventing and mitigating the effects of ACEs in our students. When a child’s home life is unstable, schools and teachers are the next line of defense. Throughout the United States, schools are the constant; they are a universal provider even in areas that otherwise have limited access to support. Schools are …

An Evaluation Of Therapeutically Applied Role-Playing Games For Psychological And Social Functioning Amongst Youth/Young Adults, Adam Thomas Soleski

Electronic Theses, Projects, and Dissertations

Tabletop role-playing games (TTRPGs) are “a collaborative narrative game where group members role-play a character that they create in order to solve puzzles, uncover treasure, and defeat monsters in a fictional environment that is created together using formal rules and participation structures'’ (Davis & Kilmer, 2020). TTRPGs have begun to increase in popularity and evoke new interest in exploring whether these new treatment modalities result in positive mental health outcomes. Specifically, therapeutically applied role-playing games (TARPGs) are TTRPGs that integrate therapeutic mechanisms in order to promote improved psychological and social functioning. The goal of the present study was to examine …

The Effects Of Family Size And Birth Order On Students' Social Emotional And Cognitive Development, Mary Watson

Honors Projects

This project sought to analyze and understand the differences in student’s cognitive and social emotional development based on their number of siblings (also referred to as family size) and birth order. To accomplish this, a 130-question survey was created and emailed to approximately 125 teachers. 27 survey responses were received, which is a response rate of approximately 21.6%. The response data was categorized by only child, oldest child, youngest child, child with one or two siblings, child with three or four siblings, and child with five or more siblings. Though the responses were varied, the data showed that oldest children …

Moving Beyond Fulfillment: Wisdom Years Stories Of Passion, Perseverance, And Productivity, Kenneth A. Kiewra, Jessica Walsh, Chris Labenz

Department of Educational Psychology: Faculty Publications

Seven participants were interviewed to uncover how they remain so productive in their wisdom years, those typically marked by retirement. Participants included a leading educational psychologist, a renowned national television news anchor, a four-time national champion collegiate coach, the founder and former chief executive of Arbor Day Foundation, a university scholar turned playwright, and two female adventurers who quit their jobs, sold their possessions, and have lived a nomadic life, hiking thousands of miles throughout America. Their wisdom years stories describe how and why they shun retirement and remain productive. The article concludes with seven advice-laden conclusions for readers: (a) …

Variable- And Person-Centered Approaches To Examining Construct-Relevant Multidimensionality In Writing Self-Efficacy, Morgan Les Debusk-Lane, Sharon Zumbrunn, Christine Lee Bae, Michael D. Broda, Roger Bruning, Ashlee L. Sjogren

Department of Educational Psychology: Faculty Publications

Self-efficacy is an essential component of students’ motivation and success in writing. There have been great advancements in our theoretical understanding of writing self-efficacy over the past 40 years; however, there is a gap in how we empirically model the multidimensionality of writing self-efficacy. The purpose of the present study was to examine the multidimensionality of writing selfefficacy, and present validity evidence for the adapted Self-Efficacy for Writing Scale (SEWS) through a series of measurement model comparisons and person-centered approaches. Using a sample of 1,466 8th–10th graders, results showed that a bifactor exploratory structural equation model best represented the data, …

Rates And Correlates Of Intimate Partner Abuse Among Indigenous Women Caregivers, Katie Edwards, Emily A. Waterman, Natira Mullet, Ramona Herrington, Skyler Hopfauf, Preciouse Trujillo, Naomi Even-Aberle, Lorey Wheeler, Sloane Cornelius, Arielle R. Deutsch

Department of Educational Psychology: Faculty Publications

Intimate partner abuse (IPA) is a public health crisis that disproportionately impacts indigenous women. We know little about rates and correlates of IPA victimization (IPAV) and abuse directed at one’s partner (ADP) among indigenous women caregivers (people who take care of children). The purpose of the current study was to address this critical gap in the literature. Participants were 44 indigenous women caregivers in the United States in a current relationship who completed a survey. Most women reported IPAV and ADP experiences in the past 6 months, and IPAV and ADP abuse directed at partner were positively associated. Further, IPAV …

Enhancing Resilience In Classrooms, Elizabeth Doll, Samuel Y. Song

Department of Educational Psychology: Faculty Publications

Schools have historically been the great equalizer in American communities—the “ticket out” for youth struggling to overcome adversity and pov­erty (Pianta & Walsh, 1998). For children who immigrated to the United States at the turn of the twentieth century schools were safe havens where they learned English received public health services and became literate and employable (Fagan, 2000; Goldstein, 2014). As each wave of homesteaders moved west across the country schools popped up alongside the newly broken sod. Universal access to public education is a defining feature of the North American society and schools are fertile settings for promoting youth’s …

“It’S Loving Yourself For You”: Happiness In Trans And Nonbinary Adults, Elliot Tebbe, Haley L. Bell, Kendal Cassidy, Sonia Lindner, Emily Wilson, Stephanie L. Budge

Department of Educational Psychology: Faculty Publications

Expanding upon the larger body of literature that focuses on adverse mental health concerns among trans and nonbinary (TNB) populations, emerging research has recently begun to investigate positive outcomes and psychological well-being among TNB people. This study contributes to this growing area of research by investigating one subjectively experienced aspect of well-being—happiness—among TNB adults residing in the central Great Plains region of the United States. For this study, 20 TNB adults participated in semistructured interviews where they were asked to reflect on how they experienced happiness generally and in relation to being TNB, and what fostered or impeded their happiness. …

Enhancing Nonverbal Communication Through Virtual Human Technology: Protocol For A Mixed Methods Study, Analay Perez, Michael D. Fetters, John W. Creswell, Mark Scerbo, Frederick W. Kron, Richard Gonzalez, Lawrence An, Masahito Jimbo, Predrag Klasnja, Timothy C. Guetterman

Department of Educational Psychology: Faculty Publications

Background: Communication is a critical component of the patient-provider relationship; however, limited research exists on the role of nonverbal communication. Virtual human training is an informatics-based educational strategy that offers various benefits in communication skill training directed at providers. Recent informatics-based interventions aimed at improving communication have mainly focused on verbal communication, yet research is needed to better understand how virtual humans can improve verbal and nonverbal communication and further elucidate the patient-provider dyad.

Objective: The purpose of this study is to enhance a conceptual model that incorporates technology to examine verbal and nonverbal components of communication and develop a …

Updated Perspectives On Linking School Bullying And Related Youth Violence Research To Effective Prevention Strategies, Dorothy L. Espelage, Susan M. Swearer

Department of Educational Psychology: Faculty Publications

Bullying, a subset of aggression, has been an international focus of scholarship for several decades and has been declared as public health concern globally (Espelage, 2015; Hymel & Espelage, 2018; Kann et al., 2018). An abstract literature search with the terms “adol*” and “bully*” yielded 382 peer-reviewed journal articles from 2001 through 2010, and an astounding 1585 articles from 2011 through 2020.

Within the last decade, there has been a concerted effort among scholars to reach a consensus on how bullying should be defined, operationalized, and assessed, how it differs from other forms of aggression (e.g., dating violence), and how …

The Us In Uterus: A Collaborative Autoethnography Of Psychologists Advocating For Reproductive Justice, Dena Abbott, Rin Nguyen, Carrie Bohmer, Millie L. Myers, Jessica A. Boyles, Caitlin M. Mercier

Department of Educational Psychology: Faculty Publications

In light of the recent Supreme Court decision to overturn Roe v. Wade, millions of people with uteruses have been forced to navigate precarious access to reproductive care. Although health service psychologists have an ethical responsibility to engage in reproductive justice advocacy, training programs often do not adequately address sexual and reproductive health. Therefore, we sought to better understand how health service psychologists’ personal and professional experiences influence each other and explore the ways in which we as reproductive beings and advocates sustain ourselves amidst tremendous sociopolitical uncertainty. In order to do so, we employed a feminist collaborative autoethnography approach …

Sexuality Training In Counseling Psychology: A Mixed-Methods Study Of Student Perspectives, Dena Abbott, Jacob E. Vargas, Hali J. Santiago

Department of Educational Psychology: Faculty Publications

Counseling psychologists are a cogent fit to lead the movement toward a sex-positive professional psychology (Burnes et al., 2017a). Though centralizing training in human sexuality (HS; Mollen & Abbott, 2021) and sexual and reproductive health (Grzanka & Frantell, 2017) is congruent with counseling psychologists’ values, training programs rarely require or integrate comprehensive sexuality training for their students (Mollen et al., 2020). We employed a critical mixed-methods design in the interest of centering the missing voices of doctoral-level graduate students in counseling psychology in the discussion of the importance of human sexuality competence for counseling psychologists. Using focus groups to ascertain …

Indigenous Cultural Identity Protects Against Intergenerational Transmission Of Aces Among Indigenous Caregivers And Their Children, Katie Edwards, Emily A. Waterman, Natira Mullet, Ramona Herrington, Sloane Cornelius, Skyler Hopfauf, Preciouse Trujillo, Lorey A. Wheeler, Arielle R. Deutsch

Department of Educational Psychology: Faculty Publications

A large body of empirical research has demonstrated that caregiver adverse childhood experiences (ACEs) predict ACEs in one’s child, a phenomenon known as the intergenerational transmission of ACEs. Little of this empirical research, however, has focused specifically on Indigenous peoples despite a growing body of theoretical literature and the wisdom of Elders and Traditional Knowledge Keepers that speaks to the presence of this phenomenon within Indigenous communities as well as the protective role of Indigenous cultural identity in preventing the intergenerational transmission of ACEs. The purpose of the current study was to conduct an empirical evaluation of this hypothesis, specifically …

Childhood Bullying Victimization, Emotion Regulation, Rumination, Distress Tolerance, And Depressive Symptoms: A Cross-National Examination Among Young Adults In Seven Countries, Madelyn H. Labella, Neelamberi D. Klein, Georgina Yeboah, Claire Bailey, Ashley N. Doane, Debra Kaminer, Adrian J. Bravo, Cross-Cultural Addictions Study Team

Psychology Faculty Publications

Existing research suggests a robust association between childhood bullying victimization and depressive symptoms in adulthood, but less is known about potential mediators of this link. Furthermore, there is limited cross-national research evaluating similarities and differences in bullying victimization and its associations with mental health. The current study addressed gaps in the literature by evaluating cognitive and affective responses to stress (i.e., emotion regulation, rumination, and distress tolerance) as potential mediators of the link between recalled bullying victimization and current depressive symptoms among 5909 (70.6% female) college students from seven countries. Results revealed specific indirect associations of bullying victimization through distress …

Self-Blame Associated With Sexual Maltreatment, Jessica Castillo, Mallory Constantine

Undergraduate Research Symposium Posters

Sexually maltreated youth are at increased risk for developing thoughts of self-blame associated with their traumatic experiences (Melville et al., 2014). Self-blame increases risk of maladaptive emotion regulation strategies and self-harming behaviors (Gorgi et al., 2019). Self-blame can cause negative side effects in development and adulthood, changing the trajectory of the child who was affected by sexual assault (Ullman et al., 2014). Recent studies suggest we must continue to investigate the role in shame in producing meaning making progress, and how it affects other emotions, cognitive learning, and emotion regulating strategies (McElvaney et al., 2022). In order to continue to …

A Multiple Case Study To Understand How Students Experience Science And Engineering Practices, Chris Schaben, Justin Andersson, Christine Cutucache

Department of Educational Psychology: Faculty Publications

The Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS), amid recent shifts in science curriculum, call for students to learn science through the practices of scientists and engineers (science and engineering practices, or SEPs). SEPs, related to inquiry learning, are ways students learn science content by doing science. Students have varied experiences learning science and engineering practices, including exposure in the classroom, from media, and in science fairs. Using a qualitative, multiple case study design, we analyzed public school educators’ and middle and high school students’ (ages 12–18) interview transcripts about learning through the science and engineering practices. Findings demonstrate that students learn …

Prenatal Opioid Use And Neonatal Abstinence Syndrome: A Review Of The Neurophysiological, Neuropsychological, And Behavioral/Emotional/Social Impacts In The Pediatric Population, Candice Gore

Dissertations

The opioid epidemic over the past two decades has raised concerns regarding the developmental fetal impact of prenatal opioid use. Research in this area continues to grow, but largely has focused on treatment for neonates experiencing withdrawal symptoms postnatally. Long term clinical implications for this at-risk population have not been studied extensively leaving many gaps in research and highlighting the need for future empirical studies. This literature review will examine the neurophysiological, neuropsychological, and the behavioral/social/emotional impacts on infants, toddlers, and school aged children who were prenatally exposed to opioids with or without the diagnosis of neonatal abstinence syndrome. Providing …